Other What's ruining your life right now?

Rain, rain and more rain. Seriously over not be able to walk out the door without being soaked. Not to mention most of where I live will soon be under water if it continues. Sigh

 

Have had little to no hot water since mid January and have had no heating since Saturday.

LAndlord eventually sent his son-in-law (who is a plumber) on Saturday to fix the boiler but instead ended up breaking something in the central heating/electric side due to a part he exchanged looking exactly the same but one pipe being slightly too small so wasn't connecting properly (it felt like it fit, locked in place and everything but just was a defect part)

Sent a different plumber / gas worker on Sunday to try fix it, nope (did get a flooded kitchen for the 2nd time in 2 days thanks to them, thankfully we had towels and buckets underneath so not too bad, just a good mopping).

Had to take Monday off to let the 2nd guy in to try repair it... Nope again, says he needs to get a new part.

Take off Tuesday to let him in again... Supposedly changes something (all in about 30mins) but needs to be let in the next day to finsih or some ********.. (Did I forget to mention this guy hardly speaks a word of English?)

Had the landlord and his SIL over again yesterday to try and sort it (think they told 2nd guy to sod off after I complained how he did nothing), they were there till around 10pm last night trying to sort it, eventually got another plumber to come around (the landlords usual guy, one who has been around to sort any problems out for us a few times) and they find the original problem (a broken distribution valve or something).

Landlord in this morning to fix it, but if it still doesn't work then he'll be replacing the enitre boiler on the weekend.

I haven't had a warm shower in over a month, let alone a hot one.
I've had to resort to heating the kettle a few times and having a bucket bath.

 

One assumes you will be getting a discount on next month's rent for mental anguish?

 

Doubt it and for the most part the plumbers have ripped the land lord off. Sounds like a Cowboy Plumber kind of stuff.

 

I doubt it too, but the service that the landlord is contracted to supply as part of the rental agreement hasn't been fully met. It's up to him to get compensation from the cowboy plumbers.

 

Not posted to this thread before as it always felt a bit too much like bitching for the sake of it, but I need some place to vent a bit, and this is nicely anonymous.

So here's the deal: by profession I am a bike mechanic going on a good number of years now, have worked in a good number of different shops specializing in a vast range of different aspects of the sport - from the niche to the common - and even had my own little mobile, highly specialized shop before. There is quite literally no part of this sport I've not dealt with directly, meaning that my skill set is not only quite rare, but very in demand.

With that out of the way, let me outline what I'm going through at the moment. In December of last year I was "laid off" by my previous employer under rather suspicious circumstances to the point where, last time I ran into him, I was rather certain he was going to resort to a bit of fisticuffs. Reason being? I dared to question a single business decision - even though this is something he encouraged me to do.

That sucks, right? Well I didn't think too much of it, figuring that somebody with that hot of a temper would just burn himself out and wouldn't be something I would really have to worry about, and I could just move on with my life getting a job at another shop, which happened almost immediately (remember: people like me are in very high demand). In other words I just didn't let getting laid off get to me all that much, and took a bit of time off for some personal reflection and to build my "brand" (links in my signature demonstrate this nicely for those curious).

Which brings me to my current situation and the rub: the shop I'm working at now, which is one of the highest reviewed in the city, is absolutely ****ing terrible. This place is so bad, the employees so horrible and xenophobic, that my confidence is completely and absolutely shattered. It's to the point where I've actually had multiple panic attacks and even broke down emotionally since starting work there a month ago. And I just don't know what to do, I don't know if it's me or them that is causing the issues - if I'm just truly that bad at everything I ever do, or if these people I'm working with just have that much disdain for me.

Quite specifically I was hired on as a very all-around employee - tasked with whatever needed to be done, from mechanics to sales - which is well in line with my past experience and what I can bring to the table. However, as with all new hires, I had to go through a "testing" phase. Build a few bikes, repair something, you know: the usual. Unfortunately the people checking over my bikes not only misreported several things, but are so bad at what they do that they actively made everything I had done worse. They'd check over a bike and actually take it out of tune to where it no longer functioned properly and arguably was rendered unsafe. Compound this with constantly being belligerent about my wanting an appropriate tool for a particular job, stating that using the incorrect tool (that would do rather serious damage to the part being installed, I should add) would work because that is what they've always used.

What does all this mean for me though and in what way has it effected me? Well I've gone from a quasi management role wherein I was running the repair side of a shop from the top down for an okay wage, to now being a rather basic builder, underpaid, with absolutely everything I do questioned and looked down upon. I'm constantly told that what I'm doing is wrong, and when I get instruction from one person to do a particular thing, I'm told that what I've just done is absolutely wrong by another. I've been "corrected" almost on a daily basis and advised to do things demonstrably incorrectly without those doing the instructing listening to any reason whatsoever. Compound this with quite open, flagrant mockery about quite a number of things about me and I'm feeling quite crushed emotionally.

I've been working at this particular shop for about a month now and already I dread going in every day. But I feel so distraught emotionally that I'm finding it difficult to even go out looking for a job, and I'm so off-put by the industry I've known for so long now that I'm even considering giving it up entirely, going into another career altogether. It does honestly feel like I'm having a bit of a mid-life crisis, though I am only 27.

My head has been going a mile a minute these past couple weeks in trying to think of what I can do, and trying not to think about anything as it is depressing me quite badly. Don't know what else to say other than I generally hate every facet about my professional life at the moment, and I'm struggling to do anything about it.

/rant

 

I think it is in your best interests to walk away from that kind of toxic situation as soon as you can, especially given the problems it's causing you. Actively look for a new job(either as a bike mechanic or otherwise).

Perhaps it's worth reviewing that idea from a while back about offering small group bike mechanic training to the general public in return for some money, alternatively have you ever thought about trying to go into the LBS business yourself?

I'm rambling really, but I hope it's some food for thought.

 

Could you please edit your post and remove the quoted wall of text?

I have spent the past two hours trying fruitlessly to edit one file in Debian. I can't even FTP into the stupid thing as root because of some ridiculous error that there is no solution for, and I refuse to edit it with vi using SSH because I can think of nothing that would torture me more at the end of a long and stressful day. It's disgraceful that I can't just download the file, add a line of code and write it to the server again. It's going to be thrown at a wall very shortly...

[edit]

Ahhhh... ****. I got it. Was trying to do it over FTP instead of SFTP. This is what I get for trying to do stuff on 3 hours sleep + 15 hours work. File updated, server running, time for bed

 

Apparently a £20 customs and duty bill is appropriate for a parcel from the US worth $16($39 inc shipping and insurance). I'm not paying that unless I get a breakdown of how they worked that out and it's justified.

 

UPS?

If so, I think it's a scam they regularly pull, just call them up and dispute it.

If it's Royal Mail then they do charge an £8 handling fee on customs items.

 

Haha, they are cross state rivals, huge battles kick off during every shift on the ice, there was blood drawn so many times last night I lost count, and the most penalty minutes I've seen since their huge clash last April (Google Pens Flyers 1st April 2012). Stupendously close game, I was on the edge of my seat the whole 3 hours... My cousin in Pittsburgh was at the game and says it's the most rowdy she's seen the players and fans in a long time!

 

NAS Drives.

Yes, this is a shameless plug to get you all over to the Hardware Forums and help me.

I have no shame.............

 

Sounds like they included the shipping & insurance in the value, which of course is totally wrong; only the value of the goods themselves should be used to calculate VAT & import fees.

Anything worth less than £14 ( ~$20 ) is not subject to said VAT & import fees, only a handling charge if that ( the handling charge is usually levied due to royal mail or parcel force having to pay the vat & import duty on your behalf, then invoicing you to get it back + handling fee as a result there-of ).

 

New Camera has a dead Pixel on the screen. Off back to town I go.

 

Sent my GPU back to scan because it was doing this -



they replaced it... with this...



... not happy ...

 

... That's one hell of a funky glitch. Are you sure the cables aren't at fault?

 

It did that in 2 different PCs [and 2 different monitors/cables]... and my 'backup card', an old 8400GS is working fine...

 

Okay; What the funk. Would it be easier to tell the retailer to jog on and buy elsewhere, if you're having this much issue?

 

My sleeping pattern has been so messed up the past few days. I think Im run down and not at all getting the refresh that sleep should bring.

To the point that last night I nodded off sitting at my computer.

And the past two nights have fallen alseep watching tv. Tv at 3am but for months have been able to stay awake till early hours.

 

I feel for you buddy, I am in a similar situation myself.

If it were me I would be looking for work elsewhere. It is quite obvious that his establishment is cutting corners on not only the training of their staff but also the tools of their trade. If they are considered to be one of the highest rated shops in the area then they are definitely achieving it by pulling the wool over their customer's eyes. If there is such a high demand for a person with your skill set then finding a new place of employment should be fairly easy for you. I would apply elsewhere, buckle down, do things their way and hope to get called in for an interview/trial at a competitor.

Last July I started work at a digital signage/marketing firm to complete my required industry placement for my I.T/Business double degree. This was strictly unpaid work but my employee offered to pay me a small wage ($225AUD) per week to cover my travel costs and to reimburse me for my time. As I had no choice about being there (either my degree or sit around doing nothing) I graciously accepted. As part of my industry placement I was required to work on and complete a project for the employer. My project was to design, prototype, test and implement a new computer system to run the employers digital signage network in the field. Everything went well and I finished the project late December with partial implementation in the field. My industry placement finished at the same time and the employer asked me to keep working on weekly contract to help with the rest of the implementation in the new year, terms which I agreed too and I am still working there to this very day.

Now to the issue. I put in 4 9am-5pm days a week at this firm, for the same $225AUD a week, that equates to about 30 hours a week at about $7.50AUD an hour. I had to quit my part time job when I commenced this industry placement as I wasn't able to keep up with my roster. Even then I was working half the hours for more money. As I am currently not employed by this firm (I work as a sub-contractor) I am in no way compelled to be there and I have told the owner that I am doing to help them out as they are a fairly new firm and are understaffed. Over the last 5 weeks my work has been getting less and less tech related and I am getting treated more as a secretary then a tech guy. Having to make phone calls to clients, write up documents, make video and audio advertisements for other ventures, this is not what I am contracted for. Friday last week the owner of the firm confronted me over why I hadn't called this list of 100 clients (using my own mobile phone mind you) that he had emailed me on Monday. I proceeded to inform him that I had spent all day Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (I have Wednesday off) doing the tech work I was contracted for and if it was so important then while I was busy doing what I was contracted he could have called them instead of watching television (which I know he did for 2-3 hours each on Monday and Tuesday). He comes back by saying 'well what do I pay you for then' and I simply told him that he pays me to do tech work, not to be his secretary. I left it that and left things to cool off over the weekend. Tomorrow I am going to tell him I can't work 4 days any more and that I want to do 3 days at the same pay or he needs to match the pay of their other tech guy (which is $400AUD a week for similar hours even though I double the work he does per week.

This comes to the second problem (which doesn't just effect me). Myself and all the other staff are being payed as subcontractors, meaning we have to pay tax out of our gross earnings and have no benefits. This doesn't really bother me as it means I can leave whenever I want and I can pretty much pick the 4 days a week I work but what does annoy me is needing to cut into my meager wage for tax. Add to the fact that I get paid peanuts with the fact that this firm is breaking Federal Australian law by paying us as subcontractors. By law subcontractors who obtain more then 70% of their income from my employer need to be legally employed by that employer with proper benefits etc. Even with most of the other subcontractors (including myself) doing partial work in their fields on the side (hard to do when you work a full 5 day week) we all fall into this category. We have raised this issue many times and are told every time that something is being done about it.

My final University result got posted the start of last week and now that my transcript says I have completed all required topics I can start applying for work. I have a few interviews lined up next week and with all things going well I could be employed full time by the end of next month. Once I have permanent work a little birdie may shoot an anonymous tip to the tax department.